1950-60's comercial freezer build

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The copper certainly  would be a lot less labor just use a tubing cutter and its done I just thought the chrome would add more bling to match the chrome shelves. You know how guys are there's nothing quit like smoker Bling.
 
It may not stay shiny for long but then again nothing in the smoker is going to remain shiny for long except for the food coming out of it, more like beaming.
 
I spent a couple hours working on the smoker tonight I installed a 24"x 1-1/4" angle iron  strong back across that buckled area on the smoke chamber. I drilled 3/16" holes 3" from each end and 3" either side of the weld then attached it with 3/16 pop rivets that did the trick. Next I cut a new 3" metal flashing piece for the left side laid out all the screw holes and secured it without any issues that's 2 big monkeys off my back. I then turned my attention to the door, installed both hinges and locking latch then closed the door and traced a pencil line onto the face of the smoker so I could tell how much overlap there is for the door seal to seat on. I only have 1/2" overlap on top so I will need to glue the EPDM Bulb seal flush to the top of the door. On the subject of door seal it has been getting a lot of think time lately since I feel like its a one shot deal on adhering it to the stainless steel, perfect position and no water leaks. I'm using a Permatex weatherstrip adhesive and scuffing the SS with 100-120 grit and wiping it with vinegar I can't remember where I read that but my painters used to use vinegar on any metal before painting it. I think the acidity etchs the metal surface. The EPDM bulb seal I got from McMaster-Carr is a D shape hollow on inside so for going around the corners I am planning to notch a V on the inside but not cut through the outer edge like a folded miter joint I will inject silicone both sides of joint before folding around corner once the silicone hardens it will keep the seal edges lined up and waterproof the joint (more durable joint???). Time will tell.
 
I got out to the garage this morning and thought I would take care of my least favorite part of this project SILICONE SEAL. Yuk! I hate that stuff you just can't keep it from getting anywhere it doesn't belong. So since dry fitting the metal flashing is such a bear of a job I have to unscrew one edge of one side silicone behind then re secure x eight edges. Tomorrow I can clean up the squeeze out and wipe everything down. I drilled and counter sunk 2 more sets of angle iron shelf supports for a total of 3 so far probably get the last 3 tomorrow along with the copper spacers to complete the shelf sets. I do have more pic's so I will try to get those up after work tonight?
 
The smoker is only about 95% complete but the expression on my face when what I was looking at finally hit me must of been priceless.



3/4" copper pipe spacers for 1-1/4" angle iron supports


I really struggled over buying these shelves because they were shorter than desired 23-3/4"x 14" I don't struggle anymore I think they look awesome. Where else can you get 6 shelves like this for 40.00 Home depot, one of my better buy's




The 4 coupler nuts you see at the top will be for mounting 2 stainless cross bars for hanging sausage, ham, bacon ect,.


WOW thats a lot of room 12sf


pic of temp hinge pin need to find something with a domed head. All those holes were from the old gasket I will likely seal them with silicone before I glue on the new gasket tomorrow.


end view of light, not sure if it will be used over smoker?

 
I just got back from the hardware store with some 3/4" stove rope at 2.29 per ft. I sure hope it works. Last night I took some of my kids playdough to place on each corner of the door so I could tell exactly what the gap was when it was closed it varies from 7/16-5/8" now comes the hard part for the day. When I started the door rebuild last summer I installed pink fiberglass insulation now I have decided to go with roxul to match the smoker interior so that will have to be done first thing this morning. 1) switch out insulation, 2) install weather tight gasket, 3) install rope gasket 4) fish down thermastat plug from behind interior box. You may have noticed I don't have a exhaust stack on yet well I'm working on it if I pull the trigger on what I have in mind it will be pretty cool.
 
Glad your enjoying it If it weren't for this forum for direction, idea's and encouragement I doubt it would be this much fun. Nice to be able to share the build with all my smoke loving brethren. I'm off to Home Repo right now for some 2" tape and small sheet metal screws for attaching the bulb seal the seal has so much coil memory it will be very difficult to keep it straight while the glue dries. I will let you all know how it goe's
 
I didn't have to bother with the screws that's not say this chore wasn't a hassle though. What I did do was use permatex weather strip glue on the stainless but before I set the seal down I placed drops of super glue about 3" apart in the glue pressed down hard then taped it in place with tabs of gorilla tape. While the glue was setting up I came up with a way to secure the stove rope without useing cement or silicone for now anyways I will see if it will pan out for the long run. I have 3/4" stove rope so I took 18ga. wire 2+" long bent a short 1/4" hook in one end loosened every other pan head screw on the inside edge of the door placed the hooked wire end on. I then slipped the wire into the center of the rope as it passed by bending it either left or right as needed. Keep in mind that the door and the smoke chamber have tapered sides so as the door closes it traps the stove rope between the sides. By 9pm I was able to remove the black tape from the bulb seal and reset the door every thing looks good for the most part. The seal I got is a bit stiff so I am getting a gap at one corner so I made some hinge plate spacers from the old plastic to orient the door flat to the face all the way around. Before I did this I made sure the smoker was level and plumb so I wasn't chasing my tail I just need to mess around with the spacer thickness on top  and bottom now till all is right. I do have pics SO all this jibberish will make more sense.





after the seal was secured I added silicone to both sides of corner interior.



One of the reasons for using wire clips is the gap between door and smoke chamber  varied from 3/4" to -1/2" from one side to the next so it was easy to adjust the size of rope based on how tight or loose I made each side. After I rehung the door I noticed the left/right sides were to tight leaving a gap when door closed so I can adjust till its correct. At that point I may opt to permanently cement it?



 
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Things are moving a bit slower now that the big items are done. Now its detail stuff that most people wouldn't see or care about that is at the top of my list like this morning realigning the bottom vent then masking around it and sealing, pvc fitting on hole for the stat wire to pass through into lower compartment and resetting stove rope to fill gaps around inside of door. I did remove the crusty old painted steel base from the bottom of the cabinet and totally cleaned up/wire brushed underneath the hard part was grinding off the slotted screw heads and square nuts holding it on. The freezer sits considerably lower now it looks more like an old fashioned ice chest at 62" tall and 35" wide. I will still need to have something on the bottom to protect the stainless edge maybe a 1x1 tube steel square frame with 4 nuts welded on for leveling screws? the 2 big items still left is the drawer below and the smoke stack for the stack I would like to keep it low profile if possible. well enough for tonight, I hope to have more pics up soon.
 
I finally got around to installing a smoke vent in the center of back up high where the compressor lines originally entered only took about 30 minutes. I didn't bother with silicone at interior end tonight because I wanted to do a smoke and heat test on it using the auber controller so a little play time quickly resulted in an evening delving into 19 pages of instructions/programming process. I know having this PID was the best match for what I want to do but, wading through all that techno babble was more than I had planned for tonight oh well I did learn one thing I have a lot of learning to do before I can use this controller with confidence On another note after the smoker heated up to 290 there was a  hot spot at the right upper corner of the door and a warm spot on the left corner so the stove rope must not be sealing enough there was also a little bit of smoke leaking at the right as well. All in all the sweet smell of smoke wofting from it as I opened the door it put a smile on my face.
 
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More pics finally added. I know I was dragging my feet this week about getting these up I am so glad this project is winding down enough to enjoy it.
the smoker is on saw horses much easier to work on fishing down the stat wire and cleaning things up.


stat wire with a threaded pvc bushing for protection also a view of the 1/2" copper conduit that I drop male plug down if using the meat stat.


notice there's no steel pedestool/base? It was pretty grundgy so i pulled it off to clean up.     NOW FOR THE GOOD STUFF

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The smoker itself works great it holds temp very well. I do have to figure out the programming of PID as it turned off 4 hours into the smoke while I was at work. Its a good thing I called home because my wife was going to put in  the meat probe about that same time so while I was on the phone she opened the smoker put in the probe, looked at the control and asked whats "END/END" mean? I realized I had forgot to change the cook time from 4 to 10 hours :-{ we got it reset and going again. When I got home from work the IT was at 162 so I went ahead and pulled them off, dbl wrapped in foil and set them in the oven at 240 by then it was 3:30am at 7:30am they hit 205-210 then into the cooler. Over all I am very happy with the smoker but there is still some tweeking to do.
 
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